The Norwegian oil company Equinor's British subsidiary, Equinor UK, is merging its British oil and gas assets in the UK with Shell UK, the British unit of the Shell group.
They are forming a jointly owned company, with 50 percent of the shares each, which will become the largest oil and gas producer in the British part of the North Sea.
The merger must be approved by competition authorities and is not expected to be completed until in about a year.